Death

The pastel colored walls seemed mocking to me, such bright happy colors in such a dark dismal place. I was led past a couple putrid paisley colored rooms and dropped off in a light yellow one with daisies all over the walls. The chairs were bright green and plastic, like those in a kindergarten classroom. I sat down and stared at the floor because the fluorescent lights were burning my eyeballs. I tried to remember why I was here, why I came. But I couldn't remember anything, all I knew was I was waiting for something. Something big. It all made me want to puke. I suddenly regretted my big breakfast this morning as the nerves fluttered through me. Wave after wave of pure panic crashed into me and I had to remind myself to breath. In and out, in and out. There was a clock directly in front of me in the waiting room. It ticked down the seconds unnecessarily loud, so along with my shaky breathing there was a TIK TIK TIK pounding in my head. Making the wait even more excruciating. There was a screen in the corner of the room and I craned my head to look at it, using my hand to shield my eyes like a visor from the glaring lights. On the screen was an image of me, when I was a young girl playing tag with my friends. The screen flashed and another image appeared, this time of me as a young teen eating icecream at a mall with my parents. More and more images flashed by faster and faster, moving so fast my brain spun. I got older and older until it suddenly stopped, on a picture of me today. I was walking my dog Chloe and I looked scared. A car was coming at me, fast. I didn't remember this part, I just remembered taking my dog out. My brain had a pounding headache as I tried to recall what happened earlier that day but before I could figure it out a video began to play. There was no sound, but my head provided the sounds for me. I watched in absolute horror as the car made no attempt to stop. I opened my mouth to scream and Chloe took off pulling me down. Right in front of the car. Only then did the driver notice me but it was too late. Too late. I tried to force my eyes away but all I could do was look at my broken body laying on the ground. The video stopped and I tore my eyes away, I was shaking now crying uncontrollably. A man came into the room, wearing a maroon sweater and jeans. He looked nice, he smiled sweetly and came over to hug me. I embraced him as he smoothed out my hair and told me that it was okay.

"What happened?" I gulped out sounding like a fish gasping for air.

The man let go and cocked his head at me. He gestured toward the screen, "Isn't it obvious my dear? You died." He smiled and suddenly it didn't seem so friendly it seemed almost sinister as the walls around him lost their bright color and faded to black. Or maybe that was my vision fading. The last thing I remember was him saying, "Welcome to Purgatory."